The average attendance of students in the schools in Visakhapatnam district in the first few days after the schools reopened on August 16 in the State, is around 35% and it is said to be increasing slowly.
"We are taking all measures to check the spread of COVID-19 like sanitisation of classrooms, use of hand sanitisers and masks apart from observing social distance. Fundamentals are being taught first to the students in view of the long gap in their studies," the DEO adds.
"The syllabus for Class IX could not be completed last year in view of the
lockdown. Some lessons continue from Class IX to Class X to Intermediate. Some links are now missing and we are trying to join them for the benefit of students," says T. Sridevi, headmistress of KDPM High School at China Waltair.
"On the first day we had 47% attendance, followed by 52% and 63% on the second and third days respectively. We are yet to start the syllabus as we have decided to devote the first few days to teach the COVID-19 protocols to our children as a majority of them come from poor social and economic background, where hygiene is not strictly followed," she says.
"We have planned random testing of the children after the first week. We are also convincing parents on the safety measures being taken at the school. The additional expenditure on observation of COVID-19 protocols is being met from the composite grant," says Ms. Sridevi.
Parallel sessions
"The overall attendance in our school is around 50%. Only five or six children are attending in primary classes. We have decided to conduct online classes parallelly, till all parents feel secure to send their children to school," says D. Uday Kumar, principal of a school in Seethammadhara.
"Most of our students are bringing their masks and personal sanitisers and the financial burden for us on account of this is not much," he says.
